A mail van stolen mid-delivery from a residential street and torched in Wollongong’s southern suburbs last week is not linked to the city’s Christmas parcel chaos, according to Australia Post
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The white van, with about 100 items on board, was stolen as the driver delivered a parcel to the door of a Horsley home.
Police investigating the brazen daylight robbery say a car pulled up next to the van on Morson Avenue about 3pm on November 28.
A man got out, jumped in the van and drove off.
The van was later found alight on Eleban Place, Berkeley. An image of the burning vehicle, its contents visible through an open rear door, was shared on social media.
An Australia Post spokeswoman said the van contained 104 items.
“We are working to identify and contact senders and/or receivers of these items,” the spokeswoman said.
“We are shocked and appalled by this attack on our driver. We are offering ongoing support to our driver, and can report they have returned to work.”
Details of the van theft emerged after the Mercury revealed delays in parcel deliveries across Wollongong.
We are shocked and appalled by this attack on our driver.
- Australia Post spokeswoman
Thousands of parcels have been left sitting undelivered at Australia Post’s North Wollongong warehouse after it sacked the city’s delivery contractor.
The company wouldn’t confirm the contractor’s sacking on Wednesday, saying only that one had left and a new one had started.
No further detail about the circumstances of the contractor change was provided on Thursday, due to privacy reasons.
Australia Post said the delays were the result of a new contractor being appointed to handle parcel deliveries. It claimed no parcels were being held and all were being processed, albeit slower than usual as the new contractor familiarised itself with parcel volumes.
However, multiple online delivery trackers seen by the Mercury show parcels sitting idle for days.
Extra staff have been put on to get the deliveries back on track.
“We have tripled the number of delivery drivers to over 50, and expect delivery times to return to normal by the weekend,” the spokeswoman said.
She said the van theft incident was “unrelated to the delays in Wollongong” and Australia Post was assisting the police investigation.